Libraries Expand eBook Offerings In Organized Effort

The Wall Street Journal has a story about a new effort by libraries to expand the selection of titles available as free eBook loans.

The project, led by the nonprofit digital library Internet Archive, calls for “a one-stop website [openlibrary.org] for checking out e-books, including access to more than a million scanned public domain books and a catalog of thousands of contemporary e-book titles available at many public libraries.”

Here’s how it works: “To read the books, borrowers around the world can download and read them for free on computers or e-reading gadgets. Software renders the books inaccessible once the loan period ends.” According to the article, two-thirds of American libraries offered eBook loans last year, but those were mostly relegated to contemporary chart-toppers.

This sounds like a great idea, and we’re excited to see it come to life. Of course it bears similarities to Google’s ongoing effort to digitize everything, ever, and the Author’s Guild–which was not a fan of Google’s incessant scanning–is keeping an eye on it. That’s good. But for now, the article gets us excited. Much as we love brick-and-mortar libraries, we can’t help but imagine how much money we’ll save on late fees when our eBooks automatically return themselves.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.